School Board Candidates Potter and Pyper Differ on Key Issues

Candidates for the November election of the Shoreline School Board fielded a wide range of questions including ones about budget cuts, technology and the current tax levy from students and parents Wednesday night, at a forum sponsored by the Shorecrest Parent Teacher Student Association.

About 25 people attended the event at the Shorecrest Library and including many members of a civics class at Shorecrest.

Four candidates showed up for the forum: Mike Jacobs, a lawyer, and a 10-year incumbent in District 1; Dick Nicholson, a certified public accountant, a newcomer who is running unopposed in District 4; and District 5 incumbent Richard Potter, a technical fellow at Boeing, and his challenger Lisa Pyper, a building inspector. Kyle Burleigh, who is running against Jacobs in District 1, did not respond to invites to come to the forum, said Kendahl Adjorlolo of the Shorecrest PTSA. Adjorlolo served moderator for the evening and asked most of the submitted questions.

The most stark difference in the contested race for District 5 came in response to a question about what position the candidates have on the proposed three-year supplemental school levy to reduce class sizes. The average cost per year of the levy to homeowner with a house assessed at $400,000 is $36.

Pyper, who emphasized her ability to challenge the status quo, said she doubted the necessity of the levy with a district budget of nearly $90 million and declining enrollments.

“We still have a good pot of money to work within,” she said. “I don’t think asking people for money in this economy is a good idea.”

Potter said the tax burden should stay level with the levy’s passage.

“We don’t want to tax the heck out of the community,” he said. “Thirty-six dollars a year won’t break the bank. If we don’t pass this the outcome is that we’re going to lose teachers.”

Jacobs and Nicholson both support the levy.

Approving the levy, which will raise $1.3 million in 2012, $1.4 million in 2013 and $1.5 million in 2014, will, “keep teachers in the classroom no ifs, ands or buts about it,” Jacobs said.

The district is facing $6.6 million in reductions in each of the next two years.

Given those numbers, the candidates were asked what they would cut first.

Potter said if he had to pick one thing to cut back on it would be athletic programs.

“There are plenty of athletic programs beyond school,” he said. “Most kids aren’t going to get into college because they’re star football players.”

Despite not seeing the budget yet, Pyper said she wouldn’t single out one thing to cut but would look at “a bunch of stuff.”

“Extracurricular activities are important,” she said, saying that the board should think outside the box before making cuts.

Jacobs said keeping cuts away from the classroom should be the priority and Shoreline has a rich staffing mode that includes things like nurses, librarians and counselors, more positions than surrounding districts.  He said cuts should be made with input from input the community the form of a group of people making recommendations for reductions, impacting kids as little as possible.

Nicholson said courses outside the core requirements and athletic programs should be looked at for cuts first.

Two questions were asked about the widespread use of MacBook laptops and iPads in the district supported by voter-approved technology levies.

Jacobs said most parents and students support the programs, but one-to-one laptop implementation under the current financial structure cannot continue since the price of laptops has not come down, leading to the iPad’s introduction at Shorewood this year.

Despite difficulty typing on $500 iPads, Bluetooth keyboard solutions have been used, he said.

“This is all a pilot program to see if it works out,” he said. “We’re going forward step by step under the financial structure we have.”

He did note that test scores at Kellogg went up after an aggressive laptop implementation, although that might not be the only cause.

Potter said while he’s had some “heartburn” over the technology program in regard to the cost, his kids have enjoyed the laptops. He said he’d rather students used them in class on carts.

Pyper said her kids have used the laptops as well, and found the program confusing and expensive.

“I don’t know what the answer is, I haven’t seen studies of 24/7 use,” she said. “There’s an option to check them out if need be—it’s an issue that needs to be dealt with.”

Nicholson said his adult daughter prefers the iPad to the laptops but said he didn’t have the technical background to comment much saying, “I’d have to do further research.”

Jacobs and Potter were asked how often they check in at the high schools.

Jacobs said he’s at Shorewood regularly, where his son attends, and he’s active in the PTSA and occasionally goes over to Shorecrest with the board.

Potter, whose son graduated from Shorecrest last year, has been to Shorecrest often and tours Shorewood with board members. He said he talks to teachers and students to see how things are going and responds to notes and e-mails.

In response to a question about vision for the middle schools, Pyper said she had her frustrations with Kellogg as a parent and although she’s not sure what could be done to improve things, more parent involvement is necessary.

Nicholson, whose daughter went to Kellogg and Shorecrest, said he’d make frequent visits to the middle schools to get an idea of what is going on there.

Shoreline School Board student representative Haley Monson of Shorecrest asked Potter and Jacobs about getting more input from students.

Jacobs said when he first served there was no student representative and added Board is better with a student representative. He said he’d like to see more coordination and continuity from rep to rep.

Potter said he’d like to get more of a report from students and feedback from the student rep.

In response to a question about school prayer and teaching creationism in science classes, none of the candidates favored school prayer or teaching creationism in school. However, before or after school prayer or religious clubs would be fine, several candidates said. Pyper and Nicholson said they would support a class on world religions.